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reviews and resolution recap
Jun. 2nd, 2004 11:09 pmi started this year with two big resolutions:
1. i was going to read my unread book stack in alphabetical order and at least attempt to write book reviews of each book.
status: i'm still doing it, although it seems to be going a bit slowly. whether this is due to not reading as much due to lack of inspiration or the occasional rereading blitz, i'm not sure. i did skip ahead and read _wee free men_, but that's terry pratchett and there were coobeasties and everything. see below for the latest reviews. i have also bent my original rules in several ways, but i think they have mostly helped the great project:
-rereading doesn't count. that means i can grab a stack of something mindless when i really need it.
-non-fiction doesn't count. i've been really getting into nonfiction lately, but i'm generally checking these books out from the library.
-when a book gets dull, i demote it to backup book where eventually it will be more appealing than the book i have next up in line.
-alphabetical order doesn't need to be any more precise than reading the C's before the D's. this is partially because of my own impatience and partially because sylvia keeps rearranging the bookshelf.
-book reviews have no deadlines and can be really damn short.
2. i was going to send out at least one poem for submission each month.
thus far, i've received one acceptance and one poem reached the semi-finalist level of a contest. this is good. however, i did not send out a submission for may and am not sure when i'll get around to it. i also have several groups of rejected poems to resubmit. even worse, i haven't been writing lately. i'm going to blame this on background stress from the job front and try not to worry about it. i think that beating myself up about this is going to be worse than remaining calm and picking up the threads when i have time. however, i would appreciate it if my loyal fan base would give me a poke from time to time to make sure i've gotten back on the wagon. on the positive side, i do have a good crop of poems to submit that should just need a quick polish. i was just starting to feel really good about my craft before everything went blorp.
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Sahara, by Clive Cussler
really awful, but not quite so awful as to be amusing. this book is filled with stereotypes and unlikely events. several entire subplots could have been eliminated without consequence. in addition, having a character with the authors name happen to pop up in the middle of the novel is just pathetic.
Simply Human by Warren Douglas
really good. this is a novel set in the far future about a project which uses artificial intelligence to rewrite the old myths of many worlds and consolidate them into a core myth. the narrators are beings from the far future and each little story has an introduction which the staff of MYTHIC has written, plus a brief bit of dialogue amongst the staff about the politicking and near religious wars that each emerging tale causes. it's really quite fascinating. the novel had both engaging characters and the kind of plot that keeps you flipping pages. while the book itself was lighthearted, the author got a bit pushy in the afterword about different sociological principles that i couldn't care less about. i hope he was trying to parody one of the more zealous beings, but i doubt it. in any case, a good read, highly recommended.
edit: i love baen books. go here and you can read the first five chapters.
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p.s. interview with temp company tomorrow - wish me luck.
1. i was going to read my unread book stack in alphabetical order and at least attempt to write book reviews of each book.
status: i'm still doing it, although it seems to be going a bit slowly. whether this is due to not reading as much due to lack of inspiration or the occasional rereading blitz, i'm not sure. i did skip ahead and read _wee free men_, but that's terry pratchett and there were coobeasties and everything. see below for the latest reviews. i have also bent my original rules in several ways, but i think they have mostly helped the great project:
-rereading doesn't count. that means i can grab a stack of something mindless when i really need it.
-non-fiction doesn't count. i've been really getting into nonfiction lately, but i'm generally checking these books out from the library.
-when a book gets dull, i demote it to backup book where eventually it will be more appealing than the book i have next up in line.
-alphabetical order doesn't need to be any more precise than reading the C's before the D's. this is partially because of my own impatience and partially because sylvia keeps rearranging the bookshelf.
-book reviews have no deadlines and can be really damn short.
2. i was going to send out at least one poem for submission each month.
thus far, i've received one acceptance and one poem reached the semi-finalist level of a contest. this is good. however, i did not send out a submission for may and am not sure when i'll get around to it. i also have several groups of rejected poems to resubmit. even worse, i haven't been writing lately. i'm going to blame this on background stress from the job front and try not to worry about it. i think that beating myself up about this is going to be worse than remaining calm and picking up the threads when i have time. however, i would appreciate it if my loyal fan base would give me a poke from time to time to make sure i've gotten back on the wagon. on the positive side, i do have a good crop of poems to submit that should just need a quick polish. i was just starting to feel really good about my craft before everything went blorp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sahara, by Clive Cussler
really awful, but not quite so awful as to be amusing. this book is filled with stereotypes and unlikely events. several entire subplots could have been eliminated without consequence. in addition, having a character with the authors name happen to pop up in the middle of the novel is just pathetic.
Simply Human by Warren Douglas
really good. this is a novel set in the far future about a project which uses artificial intelligence to rewrite the old myths of many worlds and consolidate them into a core myth. the narrators are beings from the far future and each little story has an introduction which the staff of MYTHIC has written, plus a brief bit of dialogue amongst the staff about the politicking and near religious wars that each emerging tale causes. it's really quite fascinating. the novel had both engaging characters and the kind of plot that keeps you flipping pages. while the book itself was lighthearted, the author got a bit pushy in the afterword about different sociological principles that i couldn't care less about. i hope he was trying to parody one of the more zealous beings, but i doubt it. in any case, a good read, highly recommended.
edit: i love baen books. go here and you can read the first five chapters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
p.s. interview with temp company tomorrow - wish me luck.
